Protection Detail
by Dixie Dewdrop
Summary: What does protection mean to Gibbs, or to Tony, or to Abby? This is part of my Here and Now series.
1. Establishing Boundaries

Establishing Boundaries

Tony was almost dressed when he heard the front door slam, then Abby's voice call out a salutation to Gibbs. Waiting, he listened for her footsteps to echo as she ran up the stairs. He stopped and poked his head out of his own door, not moving until he actually saw her appear before he greeted her.

"Hey," he greeted, slipping into the hall, "I want to finish talking to you before we leave this evening. We were in the middle of a conversation at work, remember?"

Abby frowned irritably and turned towards her bedroom, cutting him off. "We weren't in the middle of anything. We don't have anything else to say, Tony. I told you that at NCIS."

He slid in between her and the door of her bedroom and answered unyieldingly, "Oh yes we do, and we are going to get finished with this conversation, Baby Girl."

Abby folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall, evidently annoyed. "Ok, go ahead. Whatever will make you get out of my way and let me go get ready is going to be worth it. I want to get dressed, and I have other things to do. I would like to make it to the club, too, sometime tonight."

"Thanks," Tony ignored the sarcastic response and tried to keep his voice calm. "Abby, I absolutely do not want you dating this Winston. Like I told you this morning, I checked into him and he's had some run ins with the law, some encounters which bother me. He's not a nice guy, and you can do better than that. It worries me that you are becoming so involved with him, and before you go further, I think you really need to learn about him. I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt."

Abby's temper started to rise. "Let's get this straight, Tony. You have no say- absolutely and without question no say- in my choice of a date or how I run my personal life. It's none of your business, and what you think of Winston is irrelevant to me. You had no right to run any kind of background on him for any reason. You definitely can't tell me what to do- you're not my dad and you're not my supervisor. Our conversation is now concluded, so leave me alone. I am going to get dressed. As you know, we are all supposed to meet up with everyone else by nine."

"Ok, then, why don't I just share what I know with Gibbs and then we'll see if he allows you out with that scumbag tonight?" Tony snapped at her refusal to take his claims seriously. "You are not seeing that loser, Abby! I am not going to stand by and watch you crash and burn with this chump."

Abby pushed him back and away from her. "I don't care who you tell. Get out of my face! You're not telling me what to do or who to see!"

Their yelling brought Gibbs to the bottom of the stairs. Both of them froze in place as he spoke angrily, demanding an explanation.

"What is going on up there? I could hear you two fighting all the way in the kitchen!"

The pair glared at each other accusingly and Abby gave the first reply. "Tony thinks he can run my life, Gibbs, that's all that's up."

"No, I think I know that Abby can do better than she's doing." Tony contradicted, then added, "She does not seem to have the ability to discriminate between good guys and bad guys."

Jethro pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Ok, how about this? I don't even care what conflict you two have found. However, if I hear another sound from either of you, no one is going anywhere at all. The two of you will spend the rest of the night right here, and not off with your friends- no club, no dates, no anything. Is that clear?"

There was a brief hesitation as they absorbed the pronouncement. Gibbs didn't make idle threats, and he'd actually benched both of the combatants at one time or another over the years. Abby, in fact, had suffered a house confinement last month by mandate of Gibbs. They looked at each other appraisingly. It would be wise to at least pretend to get along so they could go to the club.

"Ok, Boss, we got it. We're cool, now." Tony gave Abby a parting glare and went back to his room. Abby followed suit.

They were both ready and out the door, separately within a half hour. Gibbs reminded each of them to not stay out all night, then headed to work in the basement. He was genuinely puzzled. Tony and Abby never fought, really fought, at all. The incident earlier this evening bothered him. They squabbled all the time, jockeying for his attention, but their love and affection for each other was always evident. Tonight it was like they were enemies, and that disturbed him. He mentally reviewed the day to see if he could tell what had triggered the anger, but couldn't pinpoint a thing. Maybe it would resolve itself, but if he didn't see an improvement by tomorrow, he'd take a hands on approach with them.


	2. I Told You So

I Told You So

The club was a popular DC spot, and Tony, Tim, Ziva, Jimmy, and Abby had planned to enjoy the evening together, along with their individual dates. Everyone else was already there, either seated at the table or moving rhythmically on the dance floor, when Tony and Eve, his date, arrived. His eyes immediately located Abby dancing with Winston, and he willed himself to relax. She was right, actually, and who she dated was none of Tony's business. She was grown, and she was capable of taking care of herself. No matter what he thought of the guy personally, Abby wanted to be with him. He needed to respect that, and trust Abby to look out for herself.

Abby saw Tony arrive out of the corner of her eye and felt a twinge in her stomach. She had been really mean to him, and he didn't deserve it. He was worried about her, and instead of appreciating it, she had turned on him. She sighed and decided she'd find a way to make it up to him. The truth was that Tony and Gibbs were the only family she had here, and they weren't even blood kin. Their bond had developed and strengthened over the years, and Abby didn't want to lose either Gibbs or Tony. Tony just wanted to keep her safe, and wasn't that what families did for each other?

Glancing at Winston, she admitted to herself that she was more than a little uncomfortable around him, thought she had not told that to anyone. They had been seeing each other for three weeks, and in that time, she had seen him lose his temper, big time, over four or five ridiculous things. The most recent had been at a movie theatre when a man tried to move in front of them down the row to get to his seat. Unfortunately, he stumbled, and his tub of popcorn spilled over Winston and Abby and some other viewers. Winston flew into a rage, calling the patron a fool and a loser, and threatened to fight him, while Abby worked overtime to diffuse the potentially explosive situation. The manager responded to the fracas, and eventually got them all settled and order restored. Nevertheless, Winston muttered observations and insults about the clumsy movie goer throughout the film. Abby spent the rest of the movie trying to absorb what she'd just witnessed.

However, to give Winston his credit, he was extremely good looking and definitely intelligent, and Abby enjoyed carrying on conversations with him. They had many topics of interest in common with each other. He worked for a prestigious public relations firm, and it was relaxing hearing workplace stories that didn't involve dead petty officers and DNA. Winston considered Washington a power base, and had plans to work his way into the employment of the DC powerhouses. He travelled for pleasure quite often, made possible by his six figure salary, and was even a very talented cook. Yes indeed, he had many impressive qualities.

Glancing up, Abby saw Tony looking at her and she smiled in return. To show there were no hard feelings over their fuss, she blew him a kiss. Tony grinned in reply.

Two hours later the group was gathered at the table, and some of them were reluctantly making plans to leave the club. Jimmy shook his head, "I can't believe it's after midnight already. This has been so much fun that I could stay for hours more." Tony and Abby exchanged looks- they both knew what Gibbs thought about staying out too late. Neither wanted to risk sneaking into the house in the wee hours of the morning, breaking one of Jethro's ironclad home rules. Tony had broken that one once and suffered Jethro's wrath and the consequences firsthand. Since then, he and Abby consistently got through the front door before Gibbs even thought to check his watch. Tony finally set his empty glass down and whispered to his date. She giggled and picked up her purse, and they both said their goodbyes to the others and made their way out of the club.

Abby turned to Winston and told him she was ready to leave, which certainly wasn't what he wanted to hear. He took a swallow of his drink and shook his head. Winston wanted to stay for a couple more hours. He tried cajoling Abby into staying longer, but she was insistent that she was ready to leave. With ill grace he finally slammed his glass down and stood up and they started out. The others used their departure as their cue to leave, and they gathered their things as well, and followed to the parking lot.

Winston was angry at the early departure, and was making sure that Abby realized it. He started a verbal tirade stressing his opinion that she had deliberately ruined a perfectly good evening, which he continued as they made their way outdoors. Tired of listening to the insults, when they entered the parking lot Abby stopped, turned around and said firmly, "Winston, you go back if you want. I'm going to get Timmy or one of my friends to take me home. There's no reason for the evening to end early for you. Go on back and have a good time."

Winston took that as a challenge. He reached over and grabbed Abby by the upper arm, snatching her to him. "What do you think you're doing? You're trying to get rid of me aren't you? What's up with that? Have you got some other guy you're running to tonight?" Abby tried to pull away but he yanked her harder. "Let me tell you something- you don't call the shots here. I do. We'll leave this place when I'm good and ready for us to go! You got it?"


	3. Response

Response

Fear crept into her consciousness, and Abby tried to break away from his iron hold. Unable to make any progress getting away from him, she ground out, "Get your hands off of me! I said I'm leaving, Winston, and that's what I am going to do."

"We'll see about that, Miss High and Mighty! You have obviously forgotten who I am," he responded, then slapped her in the face. "You had better figure out that you don't tell me what to do! I run this show!"

Stunned, her cheek throbbing, Abby tried to wrench away, but was hindered with another hard slap. She became frantic to get away, struggling wildly against him. Losing her balance, she fell to the pavement. Winston, still gripping her arm, started dragging her across the gravel. Abby began screaming then, and her adrenaline took over. Suddenly, Winston let go of her so unexpectedly that she skidded on the pavement. Shocked, she scrambled for footing to take stock of the change in circumstance.

Tony had Winston on the ground, and he was levelling one hard punch after the other on him. His expression reflected the fury that was driving his fists. Winston was doing his best to try to escape the blows, but Tony kept pounding him, one fist after another. Blood flew, and Abby knew it wasn't Tony's. McGee and Jimmy raced up, and witnessing Tony's rage, pulled him off by force, afraid that Tony would do some irreparable damage. When they finally had him standing upright and off of Winston Tony spat out, "You lay a hand on her again, Winston, and this beating will look like the appetizer! You'll pray for someone to pull me off of you!" Tim and Jimmy pushed him further away as Ziva and Tony's date, Eve, grabbed a sobbing Abby and escorted her back to the club's interior.

Gibbs was just making his way out of the basement and upstairs when the phone rang. Frowning, he barked a hello, expecting to hear either Tony or Abby begging to stay out longer and later. He steeled himself for the plea and his responding refusal. Instead it was McGee's voice which spoke. He listened attentively a second, closed the phone, then jogged out the front door and to his car.

When he arrived at the club the police were already there, and the captain recognized Gibbs. He greeted him, "Hey Jethro, sorry to drag you out. Your boy's gotten himself into some trouble, though. He beat the hell out of a guy in this parking lot, and the guy wants vengeance. He's pressing charges big time."

Gibbs grunted but didn't speak, making his way to where two other policemen were talking to Tony, Tim, and Jimmy. Tony's eyes fell when he saw his boss, and he braced himself for the reprimand that was going to come his way. Gibbs would be furious that Tony had been in a nightclub fight, and especially angered that police had been called because of it. Jimmy and Tim looked up warily and Tim shook his head slowly at his boss, hoping Gibbs would save the reprimand for a not so public place. Gibbs looked over at the victim, assessing the obvious signs of the beatdown, and decided the man had definitely seen the worst of Tony's fists. Winston was shouting angrily, gesturing in Tony's general direction and threatening that he would sue his attacker and take him to court. The captain caught up with Gibbs. "I think this Winston guy has a couple of broken ribs. His nose is definitely broken, and both eyes are going to be black. I know there will be other bruises, and I'm pretty sure some sprains, maybe even a fracture of the arm. The problem is that he is insistent about pressing charges against Dinozzo."

Jethro nodded, his mind analyzing what he knew so far, and then he turned to the captain. "What happened to create all of this?"

"According to the witnesses, this piece of dung was manhandling a lady, and your boy called him on it. He gave him a dose of his own medicine, plus some!"

Gibbs felt his gut tighten, and in a second, he had the events established in his mind, and the earlier events of the evening fell into place. He knew instantly that Abby was the lady in question, and his mind flashed back to Tony and Abby's earlier fuss. Tony had tried to reason with her. Gibbs clenched his jaw. "Is she ok? Is she hurt?"

The captain nodded. "She's going to be fine. The creep slapped her and she's got some cuts and bruises from being dragged, but nothing worse. Her friends are taking her home now."

Gibbs turned back and met Tony's eyes. He nodded his head, and motioned tapping his senior field agent under the chin. Tony smiled warily in response, relieved that his boss had come to make it right, and was letting him know that he was reserving his response until the two men had privacy. He hated letting his Boss down. Whatever reprimand his boss planned was going to take place at home, not in front of this audience, though.

Winston was leaning against a car trunk, trying to move his lower jaw with one hand while the other was used to emphasize his diatribe against Tony. Gibbs made his way to Winston, planted himself in front of him, and spoke with force. "My name is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs. I work for NCIS and the two you confronted this evening belong to me. I'm going to give you a minute to contemplate whether you really want to press any charges over tonight's events. While you're thinking through your decision, I want to make sure you know and understand that I have sworn testimony in my possession attesting to some really unsavoury, illegal activities on your part. I plan to use that testimony when this case hits the courtroom, if this incident actually does go before a judge. When it does, you will be through in Washington, or anywhere else in the East, for that matter. Think that over. Do you want a future life in DC, or don't you?"

Winston's face changed from aggression to fear and he wiped his bloody mouth with his shirt sleeve. He mulled over the information he'd heard. Gibbs had scared him, and he turned to the captain. "Forget the charges, man, I just want to get out of here!" The captain nodded, and Winston gathered himself and headed for his car. Jethro watched him cross to his vehicle, then called out as he opened the car door, "And Winston, you ever put your hands on a woman again, and we will know about it. When we do, you are going to pray that castration is all that's going to be done to you." Winston shook his head in response, gingerly got into his car, and drove off, gravel flying from underneath his tires.


	4. Sticking Together

Sticking Together

The captain laughed and clapped Gibbs on the back. "You are incredible! How'd you get the dirt on him? I had no idea that joker had a criminal history!"

Gibbs smirked. "I didn't. I just figured he had something to hide and gambled with that." The captain roared with laughter at the deception and Jethro's cunning.

When Gibbs finally made it back home he was physically and mentally exhausted. The night's events were troubling, and they scared him especially because of the parties involved. Abby met him at the door and threw herself into his arms. Between sobs, she recounted her interaction with Winston and admitted that Tony had tried to warn her and had begged her to dump Winston. After nearly a half hour Gibbs finally got her calm, then sent her up to bed.

It worried him that Tony hadn't made it back, and he was on edge, scared that Tony wasn't ok. He chided himself for not personally going to Tony and telling him he wasn't mad, but was, in fact, proud of him. He knew how it devastated the senior field agent when he thought he'd disappointed his boss. Gibbs paced the kitchen as he reviewed what had transpired that night. Tony had been motivated to involve himself because of his love and loyalty to Abby.

Finally, Gibbs heard the front door open and Tony quietly enter and he felt incredible relief. He moved to the foyer to greet him.

Unsure of the reception, Tony smiled weakly and tried for levity. "Did I make curfew, or am I grounded now?"

"Tony, we need to talk."

Tony addressed him guiltily, "I know you're upset because I got in trouble, Boss, and especially having an NCIS agent about to be arrested. I'm sorry. I just reacted."

Gibbs walked over and slapped him softly on the head, then pulled him into an embrace and held him. "That headslap was for saying something so incredibly stupid. I am not angry. What I am is proud of you, Anthony, very, very proud." They stood like that for almost a minute, then Jethro pulled back and looked at Tony critically. "Come on, let's get you fixed up. Your hands have got to be hurting."

They went up the stairs quietly, and Jethro pointed to Abby's door and motioned that she was asleep. Tony nodded, relieved, and followed into Jethro's bedroom. He sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes while his boss gathered bandages and first aid necessities. Neither spoke. Tony was exhausted, but he sat patiently, waiting tiredly for his boss to finish so that he could go to bed. His body ached, and he was fighting his emotions. He wanted to finally put an end to the long, exhausting night.

Jethro had just finished applying the last bandage when Abby appeared at the door, her stuffed hippo, Bert, dangling at her side. Her lip started quivering when she saw Tony. Running towards him, she began babbling how sorry she was, how wrong she had been, and how appreciative she was that he had defended her. Tony didn't answer, but pulled her on to the bed beside him, then scooted to the headboard. He smoothed the pillows behind him, then held out his arms and ordered softly, "Come here, Baby Girl." Abby crawled from the foot to the head of the bed and snuggled up to him. Tony stayed silent, just letting her talk herself out while he wiped her tears and rubbed her hair.

Gibbs watched Tony and Abby from the other side of the room for a couple of minutes. His heart swelled as he witnessed their interaction, and he pinched the bridge of his nose to keep his own emotions under control. He finally cleared his throat and clapped his hands together. "Ok, bedtime kiddies, both of you. It's been a long night, and we all know how I feel about long nights. It's way past time to hit the rack."

Abby sat up and regarded him tearfully. "Gibbs, please, please- can we stay in here tonight?" Surprised, he examined her face, innocent and pleading, and then Tony's, hurt but also imploring. Nodding, he cut off the lights as Tony pulled off his belt and emptied his pockets and Abby pulled down the covers. He watched as they scrambled beneath the sheets. Settling against his own pillows he straightened the covers over both of them and felt the slight movements as they physically snuggled into the depths of the bed, then surrendered minutes later to the pull of sleep. He watched them both, first Tony, then Abby, snuggled together like puppies, and he acknowledged the love and responsibility he felt for the pair. In a moment of clarity he realized they would look after each other if anything ever happened to him. His protection detail would be over, while theirs for each other had really been forged tonight.


End file.
